


Recommendations Needed

by moonwings



Category: Danny Phantom, Smallville
Genre: please help
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-31
Updated: 2021-01-31
Packaged: 2021-03-18 13:14:37
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,588
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29118813
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/moonwings/pseuds/moonwings
Summary: I'm just about fried out! Can you help me find some fics that fit this theme?
Comments: 8
Kudos: 11





	Recommendations Needed

I've been REALLY needing a good "Justice!" fic where the bullies in the story actually have to face LEGAL consequences.

I have come to the very weird realization that stories tend to default to bullies/abuse enablers/negligent parents are either socially excused, ignored, defended, or self-justified and never held accountable. If they ever address it at all, it is either dismissed, treated as a joke, or used as a moral-redemptive-but-without-punishment-or-repercussions arc.

I REALLY need a good fic where someone is actually punished for their actions.

Some examples that are driving me crazy include:

Smallville:

WTF isn't Whitney and his gang of football thugs EVER PUNISHED?!? I have seen fics that either barely mention the Scarecrow in passing, try to justify it in some way (one fic exceptionally well which earns them a kudos even if the subject matter is something I personally disagree with), or use it as a base to make a Rape story.

Seriously, Clark is CRUCIFIED and his father who is always harping on responsibility and repercussions on actions completely EXCUSES the criminals?! For that matter, the whole TOWN knows it happens and willingly turns a blind eye?!

I have been looking for a good "Whitney punished for crucifing Clark" fic for over 10 YEARS and I have only found one. Seriously. ONE. What. The. F.

Danny Phantom:

What is WRONG with Amity Park? I mean... seriously?

The Fenton parents are given carte blanch to break traffic laws, assault people, be negligent parents, be psychologically _abusive parents,_ be _physically_ abusive parents. Its not even in secret.

Everyone in TOWN has seen the reckless driving Jack does. Has had experimental weaponry pointed at them and _used_ , and has seen them not give a flying F about their kids unless they are either A) related in any way to a ghost event, or B) in perceived danger. Not even _actual_ danger. Just perceived. 

They have witnessed the Fenton parents repeatedly tell Danny that Jazz is their favorite and gets preferential treatment. Oh, and they keep hitting him with their weapons - even in human form. I mean seriously, who beans their kid in the HEAD with a piece of metal (the boomerang) and walks away worried about the _metal?!?_ And the whole town doesn't CARE?!

Sure, I can see not EVERY one caring, but there _are_ people who are PAID to care, like teachers and the cops. And no one ever does.

Speaking of teachers, why are there almost no stories dealing with Danny's bullying and the school's complicity?

Dash has gone to extremely dangerous levels in his bullying. As in, potentially fatal. Hoisting someone up a flagpole and having them DROP is not funny. It is not harmless. It is, in fact, a good way to break their bones or their NECK. His actions are repeated, witnessed, and obvious.

Then, the teachers ALLOW it. Even worse, they defend it. Mr Lancer even explicitly says that since Dash is a star athlete on their football team he can do no wrong, so Danny and his friends MUST be the responsible ones when they report a problem.

There are plenty of times where a teacher breaks up a Dash confrontation and doesn't address the bullying, even when they see it. Even when they HEAR Dash continually calling Danny derogatory names.

There is such a thing as Complicit Abuse, where you might not be the one _giving_ the abuse, but you are in a legal and obligated duty to _stop it_ , and you DON'T. Depending on circumstances you can be held legally responsible under a variety of charges, each with different sentences. But the fact is, that you ENABLED the abuse.

Then, Danny is shown to actually be punished for his PARENTS actions!! Mr Lancer is even shown to give him a detention JUST BECAUSE the Fenton parents hit him with ecto-slime.

And why is there a pervasive theme in a LOT of stories to use abuse/bullying as character building, but puts the responsibility for the suffering on the victim and never shows the perpetrators actually being punished for their crimes? Telling a victim they should be "better than the ones who've hurt you" but then never actually showing them they are worthy of DEFENSE or aid is counterintuitive and simply leaves the impression that you believe that person SHOULD be suffering the abuse and if they protest, then it is THEIR FAULT for not being a good enough person to forgive their abuser. It is TOTALLY a form of victim-blaming!!!

Valerie isn't any better. She is basically the figurehead of the racist theme for the show (with the Fenton parents representing the _scientific_ racism theme). She as the Red Huntress is _also_ never held responsible for her actions and anyone she has hurt in her vendetta.

I mean... seriously? A _dog_ your _father_ had put down comes back for their favorite squeaky toy... and you blame the one trying to _stop the dog?!?_ One way or another, it is _clearly_ her father's fault. He had the dog put down - perhaps unknowingly, but still because of him. Then he didn't put up _any_ Ghost protection measures in a town plagued by ghosts!? That was just ASKING for trouble.

I understand her actions are because of the whiplash in her social standing, but ultimately her character is dependent on hate and racism. There are a few times she comes to a ceasefire with Phantom, but they are either short-lived, or she breaks it due to blatantly idiotic logic. For example: after Skulker's Island she has a ceasefire with Phantom. She also knows he knows her identity since he unmasked her to her _father_ in order to stop her from confronting Pariah Dark. Then that he sees her _outside_ of her suit when her suit goes on a rampage from Technus inhabiting it. He destroys the _suit_ and she breaks the ceasefire because he tried to _MURDER HER_?! Seriously, where the hell is that logic? No. She just wanted to go back to attacking him and used the first thing she could come up with as an excuse.

And yet... she's also shown to never have been held accountable or even be _confronted_ about her racism.

The GIW... are really a portrayal of abuse of governmental powers and how a lacknof oversight allows governmental authorities to not be held accountable to crimes. They are literally shown to fire missiles into a cowd of people because _one of them_ has white hair like Phantom. And NO ONE ever actually punishes them.

That being said... that particular theme is a bit of a loaded gun at this moment, so I understand that stories might shy away from addressing that point, but it's still interesting that it's not addressed much in stories from the past.

So.... overall...

....

I REALLY REALLY NEED some fics with actual legal PUNISHMENT. Preferably in these two Fandoms as these are the two that drive me the most crazy.

I'm not saying I haven't found _some_ , but they tend to be difficult to find, and not many are very long or detailed.

So, if you have any suggestions, please refer them. I'm driving myself batty in frustration here!

... and yes, I actually have more things that bug me about that show like the Fenton parents fraudulent science, biased science, cherry-picked data, and conflicts-of-intrest. Also exactly how responsible are they when it is _their_ bad science that has resulted in a lot of the problems to the town?

For example: It's their _hypothesis_ that ghosts are not sentient. However they also say they are intelligent and deceptive... Seriously? You CAN'T have it both ways! If you admit they are intelligent and deceptive, you are admitting they have an intelligence. 

Their findings seem to be the base for how ghosts are viewed throughout the series and so is ultimately responsible for the things people do against the ghosts due to that misconception.

Danny releases the ghosts he fights ino the Ghost Zone likely to keep them safe from the Fenton parents. This however allows them to easily _come back_.

If they had use their intelligence to build a Ghost prison and used it as an ETHICAL way to observe ghost behavior, Danny would have somewhere he could put ghosts so they wouldn't come back so frequently and THEY would have the ability to at least OBSERVE a ghost, even if they could not dissect one.

And really... how can an ethical scientist dismiss all evidence of sentience just so they can further their own research by removing the moral dilemma? The only reason they are denying the obvious sentience of ghosts is because as soon as a ghost is recognized as sentient, it is recognized they can _suffer,_ which immediately makes research harder as you have to develop HUMANE tests. It (rightfully so) slows research.

The Fenton parents are not shown to be patient in anything. They took the morally deficient but expedient path to their research by denying the existance of the obstacle.

Those people in no way fit the definition of scientists. They make scientists cringe in shame. They don't even PRETEND to follow the scientific method.

They are INVENTORS. That is it. They've got delusions of grandeur of _being_ scientists, but they lack the required dedication to do the research right. Any kind of review would throw out all of their conclusions.

...yeah. I'm conflicted about the Fenton parents. I totally understand why Jazz became obsessed with psychology. She needed it just to try to understand her parents.


End file.
